Signal-alarm and safety-gate for railway-crossings



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Shet 1. E. C. PHILLIPS.

SIGNAL ALARM AND SAFETY GATE FOR RAILWAY GROSSINGS. No. 351,336. Patented Oct. 19, 1886.

3 immior. I a 6 n waw %ZZ- M (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. O. PHILLIPS. SIGNAL'ALARM AND SAFETY GATE FOR RAILWAY 01303313133.

No. 351,333. Patn ted Oc. 19, 1886.

W'z'inesses. @344 7 W344? 401% (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

E. 0. PHILLIPS. SIGNAL ALARM AND SAFETY GATE FOR RAILWAY GRQSSINGS.

No. 351,336. Patented Oct. 19, 1886.

N, PETERS. Phuluhlhogmpher. Waihmgmn. D. C

UNITED STATES PATENT rFrcE.

ELVOOD C. PHILLIPS, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ISAIAH M. BROWN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

SIGNAL-ALARM AND SAFETY-GATE FOR RAILWAY-CROSSINGS.

EC ICA forming part of Letters Patent No. 351,336, dated October 19, 1886.

Application filed July 3, 1886. Serial No. 207,137. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, ELwooD O. PHILLIPS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rich Inond, in the county of \Vayne and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Signal-Alarms and Safety- Gates for Railway-Crossings, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

[ My invention relates to that class of alarmsignals and safety-gates used at railway-crossings to give warning of the approach of trains.

My invention consists in the mechanism, hereinafter described and claimed, by which the engine of a train can be made to ring an alarm-bell or other device and operate a gate by lowering it across the roadway over the railway before the train reaches it, and raise the gate again after the train passes.

In the drawings,which embrace three sheets, Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a plan View of a curved section of railway-track, showing the pilot of an engine, a frame containing mechanism operated by devices attached to the front platform and pilot of an engine, and a cable and its supports extending from the frame to the alarm-posts. Fig. 2, Sheet 1, is a side elevation of the mechanism producing the alarm and operating the gate. Fig. 3, Sheet 1, is an 0 end elevation of the same. Fig. at is a plan view of the frame and the mechanism contained therein, which is actuated by the operating device upon the engine. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the cable-wheel and frame in a vertical position. Fig. 6, Sheet 2, is an end elevation of the alarm-box, showing the cap inclosing it and a portion of the gate and its mechanism. Fig. 7, Sheet 2, is a side elevation of the front end of an engine and the at- 0 tachment for'operating the mechanism within the frame. Fig. 8, Sheet 2, is a side elevation of the alarm post and box, showing the gate and manner of construction and operation and the cable connecting the same with the mech- 45 anism within the frame shown in Fig. 4, Sheet 1. Fig. 9, Sheet 3, is an end elevation of a portion of the alarm-box, similar to Fig. 6, Sheet 2, enlarged. Fig. 10, Sheet 3, is a side elevation of the alarm post and box, being an enlarged view of Fig. 8, Sheet 2. Fig. 11, Sheet 1,is a side elevation of the open-link chain showing the lug which engages with the carrying device upon the engine. Fig. 12 is a detail view showing the operating-cord C and the supports therefor. 5

In Fig. 1, Sheet 1, A represents a section of railway-track,which is shown curved to illustrate the capacity of the apparatus to work successfully in such cases.

B is a rectangularbox or frame placed alongside of the rail and diverging from the rail at a slight angle, as seen in Fig. 4, for the purpose hereinafter described. The box or frame B is provided within its walls with horizontal sprocket-wheels n it, having suitable hubs, journals, and bearings arranged to revolve freely on their own journals, and connected together by an open-link chain, a, by which they are made to revolve simultaneously. The wheel a is provided with a hub 7o or drum, n*, on its journal, as seen in Fig. 5, upon which the cable 0 is coiled by the revolution of the wheel. a is a projecting arm rigidly secured to the journal of the wheel n, arranged to be moved by being brought in con- 7 tact with a suitable projection on the engine, hereinafter described.

The chain n is provided with avertical lug, a as shown in Fig. 11, which is also arranged to come in contact with the projection upon the engine, and in both arrangements the wheels 12 and-n are turned by the engine, and the cable 0 is wound upon the shaft a of the wheel at. The cable 0 passes over grooved pulleys Z Z, which are fixed in the top of posts m m in the direction of the alarm-posts E E.

D represents the pilot of an engine, and i i t the devices attached to the side of the engine and pilot, and whichare operated by the engineer, so as to engage the arm n or the lug 0' n in passing the frame or box 13, or pass them without engaging them at will. The alarmposts E E are hollow, rectangular in form, of suitable height to give the proper elevation to the gate-bars, which, together with the 5 alarm apparatus and inclosing-case, is placed on the top thereof, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3.

The alarm consists of a bell, a, secured to the top of the pedestal or post E by a bolt and nut, w,ahammer and staff, a, lever-arm a spring a 1C secured to the hammer-staff, the hammer-staff andleverarm being pivotedat a,aspur-whee1,

a, mounted on a shaft and engaging apinion, a, mounted. on a shaft carrying a crownwheel, a, the spur wheel a being driven bya spur-wheel, a meshing into a pinion, a, mounted on the shaft carrying spur-Wheel a. The spur-wheel a is provided with a circular casing or barrel, a, in which is inclosed a coiled spring which has its inner endsecured to the shaft a, and its outer end held by a pawl and on the inside of the spring-case, the whole being similar in construction and operation to the striking-gear of a common springclock.

The crown-wheel a meshes into apinion, (1 mounted on a vertical shaft having its bearings in a bracket, 2, secured to the side of-the alarm-box C, Fig. 3. Secured to this vertical shaft, at the top and within the circumference of the bell a, is a butterfly-wheel, a, to regulate and make uniform the motion of thewheels composing the striking apparatus. The cable a, as seen inFigrl, extends from the wheel a in the frame or box B over the grooved pill leys Z Z, and passes upward through the interior of the post E over a grooved pulley, t, as seen in Fig. 8, Sheet 2, and is coiled around a drum, a", mounted on the shaft a. When the wheel a is revolved by its connections, the; cable 0 is taken up on the hub or drum n of said Wheel, and the opposite end of the cable, which is coiled aroundthe drum a as the cable is drawn downward and toward the frame or; box B, serves to revolve the drum (1 in the same manner that a key winds the drum and puts the wheels of the striking apparatus in" motion and the hammer strikes the bell continuously at proper intervals until the spring.

is uncoiled and the wheels impelled by it stop. The duration of the striking upon the bell, it will be seen, is governed by the number of revolutions which are made by the drum a and this in turn is governed by the amount of cable taken up on the hub of the wheel a when revolved by the action of the engine on thearm n or by the lugon the chain n.

The distance between the box or frame B, which is the point where the engine starts the alarm, and the alarm-post, is regulated as may be desired, and the cable 0 is. made to correspond to such distance, and the cable may be carried under the cross-ties or placed beneath the surface oftheground in tubes or boxes, if desired, and the cables may be brought to the alarm-post from opposite directions,-so that a crossing may be signaled from either way by the means-described. v

The gate in its construction and operation is as follows: A shaft, L, Fig. 9, Sheet 3, is placed horizontally across the alarm-box 0, having its hearings in the sides thereof, and, projecting through one of the sides, receives a bracket, H, upon which and cast solid with it is a counterbalance-weight, H. The bracket H is made with a rectangular opening on its inner surface, which receives and retains fixed friction-roller '0.

secured to the shaft (1, Fig. 3, heretofore dethe end of, a gate-arm, G, which has its axis on the projecting portion of the shaft L, to which it is rigidly secured and turns with it, as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 10, and fully shown in Fig. 8, Sheet 2. Attached rigidly to the opposite end of the shaftL is acrescent-shaped arm, 1;,Fig. 10, Which'is operated by a leverarm, 9, on the end of which is a friction-roller, 0, which is allowed to revolve on a journal, 0, projecting out from the lever-arm 9. (See Fig. 9 I

The crescent arm 19 and gate-arm G being rigidly secured to the shaft L, it will be seen that the gatearm is actuated and controlled by the'crescent'arm, and the crescent arm is in turn moved by the leverarm g, during aportion of its revolution, by its contact with the The lever arm g is rigidly scribed, and is revolved by said shaft at the same time and by the same means that the signal-alarm bell is acted upon by the striking apparatus.

A curved trigger-arm, s, is pivoted to the crescentarm 19 at ),'and is carried with the crescent arm p, while it has a vibrating motion in the same vertical plane independent of the crescentarm to which it is pivoted.

The'trigger-arm s is provided at its outer end with a right-angle projection, s, which overlaps and engages the end of the crescent arm 19, andwhen the friction-roller 0, on the lever-arm g, comes in contact with the triggerarm 8 in the first half of its revolution, as seen at M in dotted lines in Fig. 10, the frictionroller 0 presses against the lowersurface of the trigger-arm, which, by the-projection s, lifts the crescent arm, while the friction-roller vo passes on the inside'of the crescent arm- 0- until it reaches thepoint N, opposite the'pivotp.

The, partial revolution of the lever-arm g, by its action on the crescent arm 10, has revolved the shaft L so far as to allow the'gate-bar G to reach a horizontal position, as seen in Fig. 8, and suspended for use. Depending from the gate-bar G are chains h h h h, to which there is attached a lower'or supplemental gate-bar, G, said bars and chains constituting a safetyrgate,

arranged to be lowered and raised by the mechanical means, as herein described.

Thecounterbalance-weight H, acting on the shaft L, holds thecrescent arm 19 against the friction-roller as the arm-lever g continues its revolution, leaving the gate-arm at rest, or

nearly so, until it reaches the point 8", when.

is operatedby the engineer of the engine.

This standard has its hearings in the sill of the pilot and in the front platform of the engine, having its upper portion extending upward above the platform and provided at its upper end with an elbow, 2', connected to the hand-rod i, by which it can be partially revolved, so as to bring the lug 71 Fig. 1, out to stand at right angles to the plane of the track and the side of the engine, and when placed in this position by the hands of the engineer it will engage thelug n on chain 12, and carry it forward until the increasing width of space between the engine and the boX or frame 13 releases it, the end of the frame B being placed at an angle with the track, as seen in Fig. 4, to produce this result. a, Fig. 4, is a fixed straight bar parallel with the chain it, and intended to prevent any deflection of the chain while being carried forward by the engine.

Having thus fully described my said invention,what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with a railway-track and an engine thereon, the box or frame B, containing wheels n a, chain a, provided with lug of, the cable 0, drum a", spur-wheel a coilspring and case a, pinion a, spur-wheel a, pinion a, crown-wheel a", pinion a winged wheel a arms a and a spring a and bell a,

- constructed and operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with a railway-track and an engine thereon, the wheels n a chain n, provided with lug of, cable 0, drum a, coilspring and case a, shaft a, lever-arm 9, provided with friction-roller 0, crescent arm 10, trigger-arm s, shaft L, carrying bracket H and weight H and gate-bar G, in the manner and for the purpose substantially as herein set forth and described.

3. In an automatic gate for railway'crossings, the crescent arm p, trigger-arm s, leverarm g, shaft L, and gate-arms G and G, 00111- bined and operating in the manner and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ELlVOOD G. PHILLIPS. 

